Sinn Fein leader uses commemoration for 'blood drenched terrorists' to push border poll campaign
Mary Lou McDonald has been condemned for using an event “glorifying” men involved in the IRA’s terror campaign to push her latest call for a referendum on Irish “unity”.
The Sinn Fein President claimed that republicans are moving towards their goal of breaking up the United Kingdom “inch by inch” – and that a border poll “is coming”.
The DUP leader has accused the Dublin TD of using the event to “hide the failures of Sinn Fein behind rhetoric eulogising the failed terrorist campaign of the IRA”.
Gavin Robinson says the party’s failures extend beyond its demands for a border poll – blaming the party for the stalled A5 road project, which has been stopped by climate targets of which Sinn Fein were “the chief cheerleaders”.
Ms McDonald made the comments at the National Hunger Strike Commemoration in Belfast on Sunday, an event which honoured IRA terrorists including Thomas McElwee. He was convicted of bombing offences, including an attack which killed Yvonne Dunlop, a young mother of three burnt alive when the terror group targeted businesses in Ballymena. She was checking a shopping bag when a bomb went off, and could not escape.
McElwee was injured when one of his bombs exploded prematurely, and a list of the businesses targeted was found in his coat. He was arrested and found guilty of murder which was later reduced to manslaughter.
TUV legacy spokesperson Sammy Morrison said it was noteworthy that Sinn Féin used the event to hail their position at Stormont as proof of their momentum towards a united Ireland – one he said they only hold because “other unionists surrendered their promises on the Sea Border and put them there”.
“And where did Mary Lou McDonald choose to make this fresh demand for a border poll? At the annual Hunger Strike commemoration on the Falls Road – an event glorifying men who were IRA terrorists.
“An event celebrating the actions of men who murdered, maimed, and left a trail of destruction across this Province”, he said.
The TUV man said: “Let us remember exactly who was being honoured. Francis Hughes – murderer of an RUC officer. Raymond McCreesh – caught in possession of the rifle used to murder ten Protestants in South Armagh. Thomas McElwee – convicted of bombing offences, including the firebombing which killed Yvonne Dunlop, a Protestant shop worker and mother of three.
“These are the ‘heroes’ around whom Sinn Féin rallies as they demand constitutional change.
“For all their talk of inevitability, the truth remains clear: the majority of people in Northern Ireland still wish to remain part of the United Kingdom. What Sinn Féin once sought to achieve by the bomb and the bullet, they now seek to achieve through the Stormont system – helped along by the weakness of those who once promised resistance but instead delivered surrender.”
DUP leader Gavin Robinson says that while unionist should not be complacent, its policies should not be driven by Sinn Fein’s claims that "victory is just around the corner”.
The East Belfast MP told the News Letter: “The reality of Mary Lou McDonald’s speech was to hide the failures of Sinn Fein behind rhetoric eulogising the failed terrorist campaign of the IRA.
“All the talk of growing momentum and the need to prepare for a united Ireland is an echo of the same call made by Gerry Adams 20 years ago when he was launching Sinn Fein’s call for a green paper on a united Ireland. All that is missing are the promises of securing their victory by the centenary of the Easter Rising in 2016.
“The only thing of interest in each of Sinn Fein’s confident and repeated predictions about a united Ireland is the breathless excitement and unquestioning reporting of them.
“It isn’t just constitutionally that Sinn Fein hide their own failure behind the “one more push” rhetoric. The A5 project isn’t currently stalled because of failures by the UK Government or unionists. The court ruling hinged on climate change legislation and targets where Sinn Fein MLAs were amongst the chief cheerleaders despite warnings of the impact it could have, including on infrastructure projects.
“None of this means that unionism should be complacent, but it does mean our positions shouldn’t be driven by the latest prediction by Sinn Fein that victory is just around the corner. It is our task to work for Northern Ireland and to make Northern Ireland work. It is our task to work together to grow the support which already exists for our place within the United Kingdom.”
On Sunday, Ms McDonald told the republican event: “Friends, it is our duty as activists carve the avenue through which we will reach a united Ireland. We are getting there, inch by inch, day by day, year by year,” she said.
The IRA campaign which led to the hunger strikes began as a ‘blanket protest’ in 1976, before escalating to a “dirty protest”, in which they refused to leave their cells to wash and smeared human excrement on the walls. After an abandoned hunger strike in 1980, a second took place in 1981, and resulted in the deaths of ten men.